Dusky Pink Shadows
by a mountain of gideon's scones
Summary: Taking a road trip in America, Teddy and Victoire decide to steal some roller skates and go rollerskating. For the S U N S E T S competition on HPFC


_For the S U N S E T S competition_

_And for Livvi…happy belated birthday, for yesterday!_

_I don't own anything_

_No stereotypes or whatever intended: just a little bit of humour here!_

_**TeddyVic**_

* * *

_~x~_

Victoire slips into her seat in their little booth in the classic (Muggle) American diner she insisted on visiting on their trip around the USA, her eyes trained on her boyfriend's nearly full plate.

"Teddy, don't you like the waffles or something?" her attention diverts back to the traditional American waffles she ordered as soon as she entered the building precisely seventeen minutes and forty three seconds ago – if she fails in saving the South American wizarding children from poverty, at least she could get a job in being a human stopwatch!

He looks at her in confusion for a second, not understanding why she's asking about the waffles until he realises that his plate is still full. "I haven't actually tried one yet," he confesses, his fork now poised mid-air. "They…they don't look exactly _appetising_, do they?" he continues, trying to chicken out of eating one.

"Is Teddy Remus Lupin, award winning Quidditch player – the one who isn't scared of _anything_ according to his last interview with Witch Weekly – _afraid_ to try some new food?" Victoire teases, her hand not holding a piece of cutlery finding itself held by Teddy.

He grimaces for a minute before shrugging. "Whatever, Vic, that interview was when I was twenty, when I was young, foolish and cocky-"

"That was last year," she finishes with a grin, plopping a piece of waffle in her mouth and swooning at the taste of it. "Come on, Teddy, try a piece of waffle. And, you never know, if you do, I might kiss you," her grin widens as she tries to make him rise to the challenge. Needless to say, he does so.

The red and white checked table cloths are typically American diner-esque, Victoire decides as she looks around the place which seems to be getting busier and busier. Pots of coffee are handed out continually to the waitresses, who…are they _roller skating_?

"Can you see what they're wearing on their feet?" she asks her boyfriend of nearly four years now, who seems to have found his appetite for the waffles when the promise of a kiss came into the equation. So he dips his gaze from Victoire to the floor, waiting for one of the annoyingly perky waitresses to come by…

"Roller skates," Teddy says approvingly, a plan forming in his mind as he speaks, evident through the fact that his face pinches up in the way that Victoire recognises. "Hey…why don't we happen to acquire a pair or two and go skating around the US of A, since you're so up for 'embracing the culture'," he puts the last bit in air quotes as he rolls his eyes.

"For that, you get no kiss till we've roller skated," is all she says in response, an almost vindictive smile on her lips as she waves the waitress over to pay the bill. "Are there any hilly areas around here?" she inquires innocently as she pays, noticing in the corner of her eye Teddy disappearing to grab the roller skates in the side of the room. It shouldn't be this easy to steal the shoes, unless the waitresses actually want to get rid of them.

"Sure," the bubbly server replies, pointing on a map to the closest area, just as Teddy signals to Victoire that they're good to go.

"Thanks!" she calls over her shoulder on her way out of the diner, catching the side of her jeans on the hook that just _happens_ to be in the way – something Victoire Weasley isn't particularly good at is _anything_ to do with clumsiness. Just looking at a set of steep stairs usually has her falling down them – or dropping something breakable from the top to the bottom.

Teddy has already zoomed the car around, the soft-top down so that she could theoretically jump straight in. However, after the incident with the jeans catching (nothing simple magic couldn't fix), she decides to open the door and get in the conventional way, something that obviously disappoints Teddy.

"You're in America, so you're supposed to live out _all_ the stereotypes," he tells her as they drive ridiculously fast down one of the long, straight stretches of the highway. "Now, how do we get here?"

_~x~_

They arrive an hour before sunset, the sky already beginning to clear of all the clouds for what will be one of the most spectacular sunsets they could see at the minute. Everything seems perfect, weather wise at least, and they begin to strap on their roller skates as soon as they get out of the car.

Sitting on a rolling hill – amazingly, when she's playing sports, Victoire's balance seems almost restored to that of a normal nineteen year old – she modifies her skates so that they fit her feet perfectly before standing up with ease, skating down the moderately steep slope with the elegance of a professional skater.

Her long, flame red hair fans out behind her as she increases momentum, Teddy's breath catching in his throat as he just looks at the girl who is screaming for joy, the girl moving further and further away from him, almost out of his reach.

That is, however, until he sets off himself and cheats to catch up with her near instantly.

"No fair," she laughs as she takes his hand and continues to skate down the hill, winding figures of eight every now and then just to show that she can do it, shrieking with laughter as she does so.

It's a truly magical evening.

_~x~_

Night begins to fall as they reach the top of the hill once again and they collapse to the grass, having forgotten that they could have used magic to get them up rather than walking. Panting heavily, they lie with one's feet next to the other's head, gazing up at the streaks of purple, of pink, of ebony all intermixed in the sky.

"Wow," she whispers, unable to recall such a glorious sunset as this one before her tonight. Her hand reaches out to take Teddy's once again, her pale white, fragile looking hand encased in his near paw like one, and his grip seems to only get tighter as the minutes progress.

As the sun becomes barely more than a crescent moon shape at the line of horizon, he pulls himself to a sitting position and she follows, curling her free arm around her legs as she looks up at Teddy.

"It's beautiful," she finds herself getting distracted by the sheer immensity of the sunset, the way that every section she looks at seems to be different. "Look at the different colours all working together, Teddy, to make the most beautiful of things. How amazing would it be for us all to be able to do that as humans, to make everything better rather than worse?" she whispers, her voice catching for the slightest of moments.

He laughs a short, stressed laugh, cutting out as he leans over and pulls her into his side, stroking her hair back from her face. "Victoire Weasley, little miss humanitarian of the year," he murmurs into her ear, snorting as she squirms as his breath hits her ear.

"That's the plan," she laughs, turning her own head to face his at the strangest of angles. The dusky pink streak in the sky hits her face there, casting a glow over her skin that makes her appear almost angel like, tinting every part of her pink – even her red hair!

He leans over and presses his lips to hers, one hand cupping her chin to pull her head closer to his as he deepens the kiss near instantly. Her eyes close as the scent of his skin hits her senses stronger than before, making her smile into his lips.

"Something funny?" he asks against her lips, not lifting them from hers to even talk to her.

She manages to shake her head somehow as she pulls away, wrapping herself in his arms as she turns her attention back to the sunset. "Nothing, nothing at all," she whispers. "Just you've had a piece of chewie in your hair since before we went in the diner and you haven't noticed yet."

And, with that, she bursts into peals of laughter as the sun goes down entirely on the grassy area where they sit, the last rays of crimson lingering poignantly before disappearing for another night, waiting to reappear in the early hours of the morning.

Pure bliss.

* * *

_Chewie = chewing gum, for you American souls._

_Don't__ fav or read without reviewing please and thanks!_

_Vicky xx_


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